217 



and crisped but not woolly. Flowers narrow as in the type, blue-black 

 when dry, about 3 cm. long, with the calyx a half longer than the blades 

 and rather shaggy and with the soft hairs more spreading and inclined 

 to be nigrescent ©r black, the subulate teeth often 6 mm. long, the flow- 

 ers (about 5) are darker and with much deeper red than the pink-pur- 

 ple of A. Utahensis but resemble it very much but bloom nearly a 

 month earlier and at the same time as A. Purshii which is very early. 

 Bracts often half as long as the calyx. Peduncles and leaves about 

 1-1.5 dm. long. Petioles about twice as lonvi as the leaf-rachis. Leaf- 

 lets about 5 pairs, nearly oval, acutish at bol'i ends, 1-1.5 cm long, 

 greener but still very pubescent. Crowns (iM-.r,,;, several, 3-7 cm. long. 

 ijy the side of these in the open and witn',!ii -li.ule grow forms with 

 all kinds of variations but with leaves and i);MiTincjes short or pedun- 

 cles and petioles almost none and with leaflet'- reduced in number and 

 size. Common throughout the Great Basin f; ..ni the base of the Wa- 

 sa ch to the Sierras and southward to. Owen's \'ji!ey and the southern 

 i.anks of the .Mogollons of Arizona, grov. inj on dry benches and on 

 slopes in the sagebrush and junipers, Lower Teriperate life zone, nev- 

 er in alkaline soil nor on poorly drained fhi.ts. Tins is nearest to A. 

 Utahensis but does not grow with it and is i'oun;! ;it a lower elevation. 

 It and A. Purshii grow together and they lr\ bridize freely. It is easily 

 separable from it by the coarse pedicels, str;iii;;htish pubescence, large 

 flowers, narrow keel and much wider pods. The hybrids are easily 

 recognized and do not seem to persist. This Ijlooms about 10 days be- 

 fore A. Purshii, beginning early in May at 60DU ft. alt. and proportion- 

 ally earlier at lov/er elev.^tions. 



Astragalus Ncwberryi var. castoreus Jonc.? Cont. 7 658 (1895). 

 This is a form with leaves and peduncle^ about .s cm. long, 3 pairs of 

 leaflets about 6 mm. long, elongated petiole^-, ni'^rescent calyx, purple 

 tipped flowers about 2.5 cm. long with keel tip nearly erect and 4 mm. 

 high and much less rounded. Pod.s elongaledi-lanceolate, about 3 cm. 

 long and abruptly bent (about one third the ?<^a> up) to an erect flat- 

 tish and elongated tip twice as long as the base. Calyx teeth triangu- 

 lar and about 2-3 mm. long. This grows at the copper mine 18 milci 

 west of .St. George Utah, a very rare form. No. 5006. 



Astragalus Ncwberryi X Eurekensis. This is a very rare hybrid 

 with diamond-shaped leaflets 1-2.5 cm. long, 2-3 pairs, minutely and 

 rather sparsely pubescent with closely apprc-'sed hairs, slender pedun- 

 cles and petioles not conspicuously persistent, the former shorter than 

 the leaves v/hich are 5-S mm. long. Pods more sparingly hairy and 

 obliquelv-oblong-lanceolate and about 2 cm. long. Calyx nigrescent. 

 Flowers purple-tipped. Lake Point Utah, No 1743, May 29 1880. An- 

 other collection much like it is from Richfield and has more oblong 

 leaves and obliquely-oval and sparsely hairy pods about the shape of 

 A. argophyllus. One would expect to find many specimens of this 

 hybrid, but the\' are very rare. 



176 Astragalus Eurekensis Jones Cont. 3 291 (1893) and 8 12 ^1898) 

 Pods acu ninate-ianccolate. 2-4 cm. long, about 8 mm. wide and 5 mm. 

 high, arcuate in the middle to over a half-circle generally, notched at 

 base, sulcate ventrally and dorsally at base and toward the middle till 

 the ventral suture touches the dorsal making the cross-section of pods 

 linear, above the pods are laterally compressed toward the rather 

 long and triangulir tip, with pubescence loosely shaggy-silky with 

 rathar long hairs v^fhich do not conceal the brown surface of the 

 strongly reticulated pods which are reddish till fully ripe, sutures 

 raised as strong ribs, pods with base horizontal to ascending, a liltle 

 narrowed below, mostly single to few at the ends of the slender pe- 

 duncles which arc decumbent and shorter than the leaves. Mowcrj 

 cream-white with purple-tipped keel, apP'taring lurid-white when dry. 

 about 2.5 cm. long, narrow, erect. 3-8. Banner elliptical to ovate a«d 

 abou'^ i cm. long, strongly notched, gently arched bcyoncl the calyx to 



